Irvin struggles, offense regresses in Nationals' shutout loss

NEW YORK – Nationals manager Dave Martinez is concerned about his team.

His team was blanked by the Mets, 5-0, at Citi Field on Wednesday night. The Nationals have lost four straight games and seven of their past nine, and right-hander Jake Irvin has struggled since May 24, when he pitched eight scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory over the Giants.

In three starts since then, Irvin has allowed 13 runs in 15 innings.

Martinez said that Irvin has to throw his fastball more often. Lately, he has relied on his breaking stuff, and those pitches have been hit hard. In the first inning, Pete Alonso drove a 2-1 curveball into the left-field corner, scoring Brandon Nimmo.

Irvin threw another curveball that Juan Soto hit for a two-run homer two innings later. Keep in mind that in the first, Soto struck out on a sinker. In the fifth inning, Nimmo hit his 11th home run of the season on a changeup thrown by Irvin.

“We have to get him back on the fastball. We talk about it all the time,” Martinez said about Irvin. “His curveball is the one that got hit today. His fastball, when he gets it over the plate and gets it arm side, it’s really effective.

“It looks magnified because we didn’t score any runs. That’s the big picture. But Irvin’s line wasn’t horrible. The balls were hit hard, and they were hit for homers.”

After the game, Irvin was honest about his performance.

“I didn’t get ahead of the guys. I didn’t get deep in the game,” Irvin said. “It’s a little bit of a recipe for disaster. I’m disappointed that I didn’t give us a chance to win today.”

It was just after Tuesday’s matchup against New York that Martinez started to see light at the end of the tunnel when it came to the Nationals’ offense. The team scored four runs, and that came after it scored just 11 in its previous seven games while hitting .183 with 46 strikeouts.

But on Wednesday, the Nationals didn’t know what to do with Mets left-hander David Peterson, who pitched his first career shutout, allowing only six hits and striking out six. Four of the hits came from lefties James Wood and Luis García Jr. The right-handed hitters in the lineup collected just two.

“[The right-handed hitters] need to stay on the ball a little bit better,” Martinez said. “I know Peterson is pitching in, but we need to lay off some of those balls. Some of those [pitches weren’t strikes].”

The Nationals had their chances to end the shutout in the seventh and eighth innings.

In the seventh, Washington started the frame with singles from Amed Rosario and Wood. But both runners were left stranded after Andrés Chaparro and Nathaniel Lowe struck out and Alex Call grounded out to end the threat.

In the following frame, García doubled with one out. Jacob Young followed and singled to center field. Garcia attempted to score on the play, but he was thrown out by center fielder Tyrone Taylor.

“I think [Peterson] was getting ahead and getting early contact. That let him go the distance,” Wood said. “We have to be a little more selective. It’s tough. Once he gets ahead, he doesn’t make it easy, either. … We have to swing at the right stuff and keep the ball off the ground.”

Martinez acknowledged that he is concerned about the offense. The Nationals have a slash line of .238/.305/.386, all in the bottom seven of the National League.

“We have to start hitting. We have to start taking our walks and start utilizing the middle of the field. That’s when we are really good. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape,” Martinez said.